Anita Sheckells doesn?t know what it feels like to break the glass ceiling.
Her employer did it for her.
In 1984, she accepted an offer from public accounting firm KAWG&F, partly because the firm had a female partner, which she hadn?t seen during other interviews. After the birth of her first child a few years later, the firm drafted its first part-time policy so they could keep her.
“I said to the managing partner, ?I like it here, but I can?t work full-time and take care of the baby.? I was the guinea pig,” Sheckells said.
Today, she is the firm?s only female board member and the co-chair of the real estate/construction department.
KAWG&F has 104 employees ? 73 of them women; 10 of 26 shareholders are women.
“For us, it doesn?t matter what someone looks like. Positions are filled based on qualifications and skills,” said Arlene Ciroula, chief operating officer.
The number of young women entering the profession and pursuing the five-year certified public accounting certification outnumber men, Ciroula said.
“I think that women see that there are so many different ways you can parlay the education [in accounting],” she said.
KAWG&F utilizes the highest technological advancements to accommodate its employees, both male and female.
As a result of those advances, accountants with children can work from anywhere at any time, said Sheckells.
“Accounting is becoming a very attractive fieldto students because of the flexibility involved,” said Darlene Smith, associate dean of business programs at the University of Baltimore. “For career advancement and mobility, women want and need flexibility and convenience.”
About 55 percent of MBA candidates in UB/Towson?s hybrid graduate program are female, a percentage that Smith thinks will only increase with time.
“One of the reasons we have been so successful in attracting women to our program is our Web-based program. After someone puts their children to bed, they can log on and continue their graduate coursework,” said Smith.
So why are women getting their MBAs? The same reasons as men: career advancement, skill sets and job satisfaction.
“Life and the economy is about business,” said Smith. “Women are realizing that their ability to progress in their careers is going to be determined in part on their education, and in particular on their graduate degree.”
